Kuskovo Estate

Kuskovo was the summer estate of the Sheremetevs, among the wealthiest families in Russia, developed in the mid-eighteenth century as a place to entertain on a large scale - the wooden palace, painted to look like stone, has enfilades of state rooms for receptions rather than living. What survives around it is unusual for Moscow: a formal French garden with clipped hedges, parterres, statuary and a canal, the only regular garden of the period left in the city, with a set of pavilions around it - the Grotto lined with shells, the Dutch House in brick and tile, the Italian House, the Hermitage, the Orangery and a large pond. The Sheremetevs ran a serf theatre here whose leading actress, Praskovya Kovalyova, known as Zhemchugova, was a serf the count later married, which was a scandal of the period. The Orangery now holds the state ceramics museum, with a substantial porcelain collection.

History

Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, field marshal under Peter the Great, came to own Kuskovo in the 17th century, and his son Petr Borisovich built the palace; the Dutch House went up in 1749-1751 under the architect Y. I. Kologrivov, who also enlarged the pond and laid out the park and canals. Empress Catherine II visited in 1775, the estate was badly damaged in 1812, and the porcelain museum that moved here was renamed the State Museum of Ceramics in 1932 (Wikipedia, Kuskovo).

The main sights

• The French garden - the only surviving formal regular garden of its period in Moscow.
• The wooden palace - painted to imitate stone, with enfilades built for entertaining.
• The pavilions - the shell-lined Grotto, Dutch House, Italian House and Hermitage.
• The ceramics museum - a large porcelain collection in the Orangery.

When to go

May to September for the garden. Two to three hours. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and the palace closes in wet weather to protect the floors.

Before you go

The palace closes in rain and high humidity, without much notice, to protect the wooden interiors. Multiple separate tickets. The surrounding district is ordinary residential Moscow. Busy at weekends.

Nearby

Izmailovo is north; central Moscow is west.

Key facts